September 20 Green Energy News…

“Clean Energy Is America’s Next Frontier & Path to a Safer Climate” • A new report from the NRDC shows how the United States can meet our short- and long-term climate goals relying primarily on today’s proven clean energy solutions – and with tremendous climate and health benefits that far surpass the cost. [Common Dreams]

Proven clean energy solutions (Photo: istock)

A team of scientists from the Energy Department’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has figured out a way to convert CO2 directly into ethanol and ethylene, using a process powered by solar energy. The team made ethanol, skipping all the steps that involve planting corn, growing it, harvesting it, and processing it into biofuel. [CleanTechnica]

Renewable electricity is close to reaching a tipping point almost everywhere in the world and “nobody is going to make coal great again,” BNEF founder Michael Liebreich told a clean energy industry event in London. He said solar and onshore wind power had surpassed all orthodox expectations over the past two decades. [www.businessgreen.com]

Over $2 billion has been spent by the federal government on fire suppression efforts so far this budget year, according to the US Forest Service. The predictions that wildfires will become increasingly common and severe over the course of the century as a result of anthropogenic climate change have something substantial to them. [CleanTechnica]

Eradication of the world’s wildlife is not slowing. The most recent IUCN Endangered Species List includes numerous examples that were recently common but now are “disappearing faster than they can be counted.” Among noteworthy species are North American ash trees, as they fall to invasive beetles driven by a warming climate. [CleanTechnica]